NZ-Oz relations
Among the excellent observations in December 5’s cover story (“In this together”), I found more Pollyanna than pluck. Are we too nice to our big cuzzies to reveal the nub of the relationship? New Zealand is a colony of the wizards of Oz. Canberra makes nice noises but treats us as it does islands from New Guinea to Pitcairn – with disdain or, at best, benign neglect.
Claiming Split Enz or Phar Lap is nothing. They own most of our financial sector – our Government banks with them and rents Oz-owned offices in Wellington. They have dominated our media, our railways and half the supermarkets in a ruinous duopoly. They have drained our labour market. They repatriate many billions of dollars a year from our economy.
Chummy sports matches and Anzac blandishments cut no ice with me. Aussies are super people, but let’s get real: their governments and corporations are shark-infested waters. We will never be equals until we have the guts to tell them
